A Somerset village's church wall has been smashed by a large vehicle and it's estimated it will cost up to £10,000 to repair.

Villagers in Coxley, near Wells, were astonished to discover that a large agricultural vehicle or lorry had crashed into their church wall.

It happened in the middle of Monday afternoon, (July 24).

"Nobody heard anything in the houses opposite unfortunately - most people were out at the time," said church warden John Nurse.

John Nurse and the damaged wall

"This is the first time this has happened either, and we will be looking at a very large repair bill - possibly up to £10,000."

The reason it is going to cost so much is because temporary traffic lights will be required and there will be considerable disruption while the work is carried out.

Mr Nurse said he and local residents feel the best way forward is to get the road is to have the junction of Harter's Hill Lane and the A39 - the corner on which Christchurch in Coxley stands - reconfigured, so it's "less shallow".

Inspecting the damage

Somerset Live has asked Somerset County Council Highways if this is possible - we'll let you know what they say.

In the meantime, the damage has been reported to police, and Mr Nurse is hopeful that someone may have seen or heard something.

It's thought the incident happened between 2 and 3pm.

Christ Church in Coxley

If you did you should call police on 101 quoting incident reference 2017/4889